Revere High School’s ‘green team’ project scores $1G grant

REVERE – Revere High School students thought up a plan to put reusable water bottles in the hands of their peers and ended up being one of 10 Massachusetts schools to win a $1,000 youth action grant.The National Wildlife Federation awarded the grant to help the school’s “green team” run a campaign to rid the school of bottled water and encourage students to use reusable water bottles.A filtered water fountain purchased with the grant money will be installed in the cafeteria next month, said James Sciarappa, a Revere High English teacher who helped the green team students write their grant proposal.The team plans to sell reusable bottles that can be run through a dishwasher to fellow students. Sciarappa said the reusable bottles will replace the hundreds Revere High students empty every week.”We fill up about 15 large trash bags a week,” he said.Sciarappa credited history teacher Julie Cafarella with helping the students dream up their grant-winning project after attending a seminar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”She got together with the students and asked, ‘How can we spend $1,000?'”The Federation praised the green team’s plan as an example of “on the ground” action to address global warming. Grant money went to projects ranging from a light bulb campaign to sponsoring an energy fair.”It is our hope that these Youth Climate Action grants will help schools and their local communities to take action and serve as models of student involvement in science education as well as common sense actions within their community,” said Federation senior field education manager Liz Soper.The grant award earns Revere High a spot in the Federation’s Youth Climate Action Network in the Boston region, focusing this year on addressing the need to enhance climate change education in Massachusetts’ primary schools.The Federation also offers programs to encourage students in grades four through 12 to learn about the science of global warming, its relevance to current natural events happening around them and how they can be part of the solution.”Whether students are conducting energy audits, identifying opportunities to reduce their carbon footprint, recycling, improving wildlife habitats, learning about global warming issues, or sharing their learning with others – the learning is creative, practical, and hands-on,” Soper said.